A mock city designed to help emergency workers train for disasters is now open for business in central Georgia.

The Telegraph reports that the first exercises are being held at the Guardian Centers at the former Northrop Grumman plant in Perry.

Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents trained at the site this week, blowing out a wall in one of the buildings during practice for a hostage crisis.

Search and Rescue teams from Houston and Bibb counties were the first to use the floodable neighborhood patterned after New Orleans' Ninth Ward.

They went out in boats to rescue role players from the roof tops, including some who were trapped in the attics and had to be freed by cutting a hole in the roof.

Tags: Georgia Bureau of Investigation, associated press, Guardian Centers